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Sled-Horde
Also known as the Rekijoukko, Karhusoturet and Pallehliset, the Sled-Horse were Urdarian Mercenaries in service of the Witch-King of Angmar. With the resurgence of the Nazgûl-realms in Middle-earth, the Men of Urd had once again grown into the warlike nation of their ancestors. Soon after the founding of Angmar, Hoarmûrath "lent" the Witch-king a host of Urdic sled-warriors to aid his peer in the subjugation of the free North. This military colony laired in the northern vales of the Mountains of Angmar, and continued to plague Forodwaith until the downfall of the Witchrealm in T.A. 1975 (in which year they were either destroyed or dispersed, never again to harass the Northlands in force while the Third Age lasts). The Urdic war-host had many names among the Free Peoples of Forodwaith. The Ystävät Talven most frequently called them simply Rekijoukko (La. "Sled-horde"); but also Paheelliset (La. "Vicious People," sing. Paheellinen) and Karhusoturet (La. "Bear-warriors," sing. Karhusotun). The Noldor of Evermist held the Urdor to be akin to the Rhúnhoth (S. "Easterlings," sing. Rhúnon) and Baradhrim (S. "Swarthy Men," sing. Baranon) which they had encountered in the Wars of Beleriand, while the Snow-elves simply called them P'uink'ost (Los. "Men of the Shadow," sing. P'uindir). Utterly contemptuous of Men who would enslave bears to do their bidding, the Berninga of Järvimaa branded them the Gangandona Dautha (For. "Walking Dead," sing. Gangand Dauth), a warning of the wretched fate that awaited any Urdic warrior unfortunate enough to encounter one of the Berninga face-to-face. Alone among the Free Peoples of the North, the Umli called the Sled-horde by their right name of Urdor (Urd. "Sons of Urd," sing. Urdorn). SOCIETY AND CULTURE The Sled-horde trace their warlike lineage back to their eponymous ancestor, Father Urd, one of the Fathers of Men who had bowed down before Morgoth in Hildórien. Urd had been one of the most notorious persecutors of those "renegade" Men who had refused to worship the Lord of the Dark; thus, Urd became the archetype that inspired his later progeny to renew their vocation in Sauron's service. Some centuries after Urd's death, the Urdor had cast aside their wicked ways, enduring two thousand years of rule under a line of benevolent matriarchs; but the Urdor reverted to their old allegiance under Hoarmûrath, the rebellious brother of the last matriarch, who accepted a Ring of Power from Sauron. The empire of conquest which Hoarmûrath forged across the Northlands of Middle-earth profoundly altered later Urdic society. As the matrilineal clans faded into insignificance, the mobile warband emerged as the fundamental kin-group. Martial prowess became the sole criterion of leadership of the warband, and violent turnovers became frequent (both from death in battle and from rivalry within). A chieftain enjoyed sexual access to all women in his warband, and the offspring of mothers who had not been "sown with the chieftain's spear" were treated as outsiders, subjected either to death by exposure or condemned to thralldom. In cases where the war-leader happened to be a woman, this rite of establishing kinship (if such it could be called) was usually performed by her favored lover. While the brutal simplicity of this custom made it an effective enough way of defining the warband and the boundaries of loyalty, the sometimes rapid succession of chieftains through attrition often became a pretext for "purging" one's rivals—anyone not accepted by the new leader automatically became an outsider, regardless of their status under the previous chieftain. When conflict within a warband could not be contained, it usually resulted in a parting of ways (the loosing faction either forming its own band or seeking entrance into another existing band). No Urdorn made open war upon his own kinsfolk— even those that had been ostracized—unless they became members of a rival warband. For this reason, there was frequent trafficking of personal enemies between the various warbands. By the same logic, individuals fleeing from a determined adversary could end up playing the same game: if a feared pursuer joined a warband hostile to an individual's current kin-group, that individual could actually counter the move by abandoning his own kinsfolk and joining another warband friendly to that of his pursuer! Such "trading" of bands had its limits, of course; a chieftain could simply refuse to accept a rogue warrior whose only reason for wanting to join his kin-group was to stir up trouble with another warband. On the other hand, a chieftain who lacked for warriors could not be able to afford such refusal, and so the vicious circle continued unabated. The Urdor were among the most bloodthirsty and cruel of Men, their savagery matched only by their lust for plunder. In a sense, the Urdor no longer had a culture of their own; everything was stolen from other peoples. Perhaps it was desperation and anger that had at first driven them to such brutal acts as slavery or the torture of women and children in bear-pits, the victims dying in agony to the cheers of the crowds. Whatever the reason for their bloodlust, the Urdor were a threat not to be taken lightly. Category:Tribe Category:Forodwaith Category:Angmar Category:Urdar Category:Snowmen Category:MERP